How should I haggle?

[mkar]

Originally Posted by buschy

+1 .... small discounts to travel are not usually worht it. its psychological. you feel like your getting a better deal but you have to calculate it out as said.
also my local dealer gives a car when in service only if you bought it there, actaully all the local dealers, so factor that in to if thats the case in your area. I would literally have to get a super huge deal to get it from somewhere else. but you can use someone elses price to haggle with yoru local boy.. if you are not getting anywhere tell them you wnat to see the invoice and speak with the GM. make your demand to the GM not the salesman. also tell them of your plan to buy your wife.girlfriend mom brother whomever, a car soon.

Definitely right here two times... Get (make up ) a price from another dealer and make sure they think you're going to be a repeat customer.

[E61Silver]

Originally Posted by Strat

Buying from your local dealer makes servicing the vehicle a bit easier. I know I get better service where I purchased our X5 from, vs. a couple other local dealers.

I would also think about how much your time is worth. For example, if you are willing to drive 3 hours each way to a dealer to save $500, after you back out $80 in gas, you are saying your time is worth $70 an hour just to break even on your $500 savings.

Your local dealer my not offer the best service or BMW loaner cars. I choose a dealer that was further from my home because of the loaner cars and service, they also came close to my best economic deal.

[Brisbane]

I think there are times when the local dealer works and times when it won't.

I really want to buy from my local dealer (VOB)- I've known the service advisor a long time and will go there for service no matter who I buy from. So I spotted them $1,000 and went there first. They came back with $500 more and almost $700 more on the hitch install- $2,200 difference from the lowest price I received.

When another dealer is bringing the car to me on a truck I'd be a fool to not put that money in my pocket.

There are a lot of differences dealers take in approaches to pricing here in the DC area. One says "we don't mark up" but then call back a month later wanting another chance. One tags on the usual "dealer processing fees", others will blindly attempt to sell you what's on their lot and won't listen. Many (most in fact) are so uninformed about what they sell it's amazing. We've purchased from two- BMW of Fairfax and Passport. Tischer came close last time and I'll let anyone who's interested know what happens this time around.

They're by and large order takers- letting them know you're a repeat buyer or have been a long time service customer apparently has no effect- most of the sales staff have been there only a few years and could care less. The ones you go back to see are long gone. The service side may know- and care- but it's out of their control.

[E61Silver]

[AVB-AMG]

On the two BMW X5's (E53) that I leased, '01 and '04 models, I negotiated with our local BMW dealer in NJ (JMK BMW) and was very pleased with the results. First, I did my homework online using Edmunds.com and a couple of other similar auto cost web sites. As a result I was able to obtain both the Dealer's Cost and MSRP of the vehicles and all of the options so I knew essentially what their cost and profit margin was. These sites also will inform you if there any additional Dealer or Factor "incentive" programs that provide additional money to the Dealer who may decide to pass some or all of the savings on to their customers. This can really help you understand how much spread you really have to work with and is important information to have before you contact any Dealership.

As a result, I was able to negotiate $3,000 off of MSRP both times for each X5. The second time, as a current/repeat customer they knew me and the very good condition that I maintain all of my cars and realized that their ability to resell any vehicle that I lease would be easy, with a better profit for them. I asked for the same discount they gave me 3 years earlier and they did.

In Feb. '07, after considering a new '07 X5 (E70) and then finally deciding to lease a '07 MB ML63 AMG, I did the same homework, but this time also did what some of you have done and sent emails to the General Manager's of selected local/regional Mercedes-Benz Dealers that listed the MSRP and Dealer's Cost for the base vehilce and all of the options I wanted. I added their Dealer's Prep. fee and told them to please respond via email by giving me their best (first and final) offer. I was very pleasantly surprised that out of 6 Dealer's I sent these emails to I had responses with discounted offers from 5. The best offer was $4,000 off MSRP. I ultimatly decided to go with the M-B Dealer who is the most convenient to me and offered a discount of $3,500. The $500 difference from the best offer was worth it to me considering the overall convenience of saving driving time when requiring servicing over the life of my lease, a difference of 15 mins. vs. 50 mins. The local Dealer I went with offered me free car washes of the ML63 every Saturday and a nice discount on all MB accessories I buy from him, all of which is worth around $500 over three years.

Also, if you are a member of the BMW Club of America (BMW CCA) or the M-B of America (MBCCA), one of the perks is that you will be able to get a certain $dollar discount on the purchase/lease of a new BMW or M-B vehicle. There are some restrictions, (i.e. M-B does not offer this discount on AMG vehicles), but is worth looking into. Hope this helps....

AVB-AMG

[o2happpy]

Go to car buyingtips.com Pretty nice site. The way I got my 08 x5 is getting the invoice price of my vehicle from edmonds and emailed all the local dealers in my area my offer. I offered them 2% over invoice price and one dealer accepted it. So I went to the dealer and and got my final price 3K under MSRP. I went there and haggled even a little more and they drop it 300.00 more. I got free floor mats and even haggled the salesguy for a free BMW logo cap. The X5 sales dropped from previous years and they need to sell even more this year. So the salespeople are very eager to sell you a new X5. Many believe because of rising gas prices, people are buying energy efficient vehicles. Thats my 2 cents. hope you get the x5 you want at a good price.

[peterk814]

Send emails to all your local dealers in say 10 or 15 mile radius. Specifically write down what you want all the options colors, etc to show them that you have done some research on your own. They will send you a price. Make sure you have them send it to you in email form so you can use it for proof later on. Find the one or two or three with the best price. You can even haggle from there pitting one dealer against the other. I thought i had a great price going into the dealership through the email thing and they lowered it even further when i got there. A lot of dealerships have a seperate internet department. They know that when your emailing one company your emailing many so a lot of them will send out the best price they can do, eliminating the need to haggle as much. Try it it works. I got my honda pick up for 8k off msrp, and my x5 at or close to invoice.